Marine Spill Response Corp. signed as Polar Tankers’ primary response contractor

Petroleum News Alaska

Phillips Petroleum Co. said Oct. 4 that Marine Spill Response Corp. will be the primary response contractor for Polar Tankers Inc. on the West Coast and in Hawaii.

Phillips said its membership in the Marine Spill Response Corp. funding organization, Marine Preservation Association, was effective Sept. 26.

Phillips’ Polar Tankers subsidiary manages marine transportation of Phillips’ Alaska North Slope production.

Marine Spill Response Corp. is the largest dedicated, oil spill response program in the United States and is classified as a primary responder under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

The Marine Preservation Association is a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation organized to help all petroleum and energy related industries to address problems caused by marine oil spills. Marine Preservation Association has responded to the mandate of the United States’ Oil Pollution Act of 1990 by providing private industry funding for the Marine Spill Response Corp. to respond to oil spills in U.S. coastal waters and certain rivers and harbors.

Polar Tankers, based in Long Beach, Calif., operates a fleet of five vessels ranging in size from 50,000 to 190,000 DWT dedicated to the Alaska crude trade. These ships include the Polar Endeavour, the first of five, state-of-the-art Millennium Class double-hulled tankers. Phillips said that the Millennium Class tankers are the first crude oil carriers being built specifically for the Alaska trade in compliance with the Federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990. The ships meet and/or exceed existing and proposed environmental regulations and have set new standards for innovation and environmental protection, the company said.